Safety eyewear is worn for a variety of safety reasons. As a result, a variety of safety eyewear types, each specifically designed and intended for a particular use or a particular environment, has been developed. For example, safety eyewear are often worn to protect a wearer's eyes from debris during metal machining operations. In such an environment, metal shards may be propelled towards an operator's eyes. Safety eyewear is also worn in the chemical industries to protect employees from airborne chemicals resulting from splashes or spills. Still further safety eyewear is worn in industries utilizing lasers. Lasers can be damaging to the eye if exposed. Lasers are particularly dangerous because different wavelengths of laser light may require different lenses for filtering the damaging light.
Because of the proliferation of safety requirements now requiring greater numbers of employees to wear safety eyewear, cost, ease of replacement of the lenses, the ability to accommodate prescription lenses, and fashion have now become prime concerns for customers of these safety products.
One factor that has not been adequately addressed is the ability to mount prescription lenses onto safety glasses that simply comprise a plastic brow bar style frame and a unitary shield-type safety lens. For example, please refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,681, which illustrates such a pair of safety eyewear including the brow bar style frame. The '681 patent is co-owned with the present application, and the entire teachings of the '681 patent are hereby incorporated by reference.